Since it hit the theaters, people have been raving about Straight Outta Compton. On Sunday, I got to find out why.

Straight Outta Compton was everything I wanted and more. The story of N.W.A. was properly immortalized. I was captivated by the trials that the group experienced. I was routing for them, right along with the rest of the theater. But this film was so much more than just good.

The story of N.W.A. was a backdrop for an even bigger phenomenon. Police brutality was the true catalyst for the story. Through the movie, the members of N.W.A. were assaulted, beaten, and terrorized by the police. They dealt with this mistreatment throughout their lives, from the time they were growing up until they were huge stars. Though relationships and loyalties changed through the movie, the intolerable behavior of the police remained constant.

The reason that the inclusion of police brutality was so hard hitting is because it is not a problem from several decades ago. Its a real, enduring danger to millions of people.

Throughout the film, real news footage of police brutality was included. Though this footage was from the 1992 beating of Rodney King, it could have been from any one of a number of recent cases of police brutality. For me, the most chilling moment of the film was when someone said, “At least they got it on tape, now the LAPD is in trouble.” Obviously in the Rodney King case, just like in so many cases today, this was not true. The police got away with senselessly beating an unarmed black man, just like they do every day all over the country, regardless of video recording.

As I left the theater, names flooded through my head. Names of people who had died at the hands of police. I was shocked at how many I knew. I was even more shocked at how many more there are that I don’t know. In 2015, an estimated 1202 citizens were killed by police officers in the U.S. (copcrisis.com).

The U.S. has made no progress on combating police brutality in the two decades since Straight Outta Compton took place.